Religious Wright vs. The One Kirsten Scott

[TheOne]

OOC Note: Edited because of a code error


{FREEDOM: Chapter Three}

A modern day colloquy states that, "the world is a scary and dangerous place."

For Emma, also known as "The Oracle," she got her first taste of that on July 4th, as she was exposed to fireworks for the first time.  It was a situation that caught everyone off guard.  Nobody had put themselves in the shoes of someone who had been cooped up and isolated from the world for the bulk of their lives, and in turn, nobody realized what kind of culture shock this would be on her.

I know this was something I never took into consideration, and was a real eye opener.  Never once in my life had I felt "sheltered," I had just always felt like an outcast.  I had access to the world and knew about what all it had in store for me through the internet, through public schooling, and yes, even through the few times my parents took me somewhere other than The Compound.  But Emma, she never had that.  Those few instances she was ever taken from the confines of The Compound, she was effectively blindfolded.  She was hidden from society because The Prophets were so terrified she would be a target for kidnapping.

It's an idea that is just... Foreign...

But I guess on the flip side I am on the only feeling that way.  Her brother, Hailey, we all now live in a new world where, not only do we not realize everything we take for granted, but we don't realize what she may or may not know about.  It creates a dynamic where we almost feel like we are stuck, in a sense, in a closed-off world of our own.  We don't know what we can do.  We don't know what we can't do.  We don't know if there are other things that would set her off, and we don't know how we could prepare her.

It's a situation where, as another wise man once said, "you can't Nerf the word."

But here we were... Three adults... All of us trying to look out for the best interest of someone who means a ton to us all, and all of us wanting to protect her emotional state at all costs.  And I have to wonder if we see things in the same lights or if there are moments where we each will see things differently?  Will there be competition to try and persuade Emma that we each know better, or can we all coexist and ensure that she, ultimately, is being treated as she should be so she can figure out the world, and make her own decisions for her own life?

After going from location to location, slowly making their way further and further from The Compound and the town in which it corrupted, the foursome finally have taken up shelter, once again, in the home of Hailey's parents.  With the drama now firmly behind them, and Hailey's parents cooperating with law enforcement regarding the cases being built, it has become a safe haven for the group, and finally, a sense of home for everyone.  No more is it a place to "hide," but instead a place where they can find a warm meal and a comfortable bed, and not have to feel like they're in another hotel room.

For Hailey, it is a nice feeling, to be able to surround herself with family and know that everything is finally trending in a normal direction for their relationship.  For the other three it is a sense of "home" they haven't really experienced before, and it's something they are all kind of having to grow used to.  Homemade meals, clean and comfortable beds, friendly faces, it's all new to the three who aren't akin to Hailey and her family.

But it's nice.

One evening, Ethan is off in another room with Hailey's brother, enjoying some "guy time" with someone who he finally gets to talk to without estrogen.  Hailey and her parents are in the television room, scanning channels, and Kirsten sits in the kitchen, alone, playing on her phone.  It's one of the few times she has truly let her "Spidey Sense" down, since the raid, and the quiet has become her friend.

As she messes around with some mindless game, she sees movement from her peripheral and glances up.  Emma, for some reason looking around every corner, seems to think she has to sneak into the room, and Kirsten can't help but smirk.

Kirsten Scott: Is there a reason you're strafing the kitchen?  I can assure you, it's clear...

Emma Taylor: I... I just didn't know if you'd mind me bothering you...

Kirsten smirks again.

Kirsten Scott: Now let's be real... Why would I feel that way?

Emma Taylor: I don't know... I'm just... I'm just finally starting to realize a lot of things...

Kirsten Scott: Please tell me we aren't about to have "the talk?"

This actually makes Emma laugh.

Emma Taylor: Oh GOD no!  I will never give my mom much credit, but I'll at least say she did give me the right motherly insight into THAT..

Kirsten Scott: Then what, possibly, could you be realizing that you never have before?  You have the sharpest mentality of anyone I have ever met... Plus let's be real... You do have this knack for seeing things that do have this creepy irony of actually happening.

Emma Taylor: Yeah, but... Life in general... It's... Kind of scary...

Kirsten Scott: You talking about the fireworks?

Emma Taylor: That's an example, yes... But more importantly to me is, what else is out there that I don't know about?  What is out there that I'm not ready to handle, and how will I when it actually comes to fruition?

Kirsten looks down and kind of smiles to herself in surprise.

Kirsten Scott: You really know how to bring out the philosophical questions in life, don't you?

Emma chuckles.

Emma Taylor: Yeah, some have said it's kind of my thing...

Kirsten Scott: So you're saying you're scared... That's what you're saying?

Emma Taylor: Basically... I mean all I knew to do was run when I heard that firework go off.  I didn't know what it was.  I didn't know where it came from.  To me, it was a gunshot, a cannon, something attacking me.  Everything was always "after me."  It's why I had to stay hidden.  I was such a "precious item" to my parents, I didn't get to experience anything.  And, honestly, how I reacted, it's just been replaying in my head.

Kirsten Scott: The explosion part?

Emma Taylor: No... You guys showed me that they weren't anything to be scared of.  But how I reacted, how I just felt like I needed to run away.  The fact I didn't even look for you or Hailey or Ethan, I just ran for my life.  That has replayed.  That fear for my life has been what has replayed.  

Kirsten Scott: Why do you think that is?

Emma Taylor: Because, honestly, it was the most scared I had been, and the most alone I had felt...

Kirsten Scott: Alone?  Really?

Emma Taylor: Yeah.  And it wasn't because you all weren't there.  It was because I was in the open.  I wasn't being sheltered by my parents.  I was alone, for the first time, and I didn't know what to do... And I look at that as something so damn scary to me, I don't know what to do.  My worry is that this won't be the first time.  My fear is that there is something out there that will push this emotion to cause me to react like that again, or worse, and not just have it be something simple like a firework, that you guys can talk me out of...

Kirsten nods.

Kirsten Scott: ... And you want me to assure you that fear isn't necessary, I'm assuming?

Emma Taylor: Well... I'd like that, yeah...

Kirsten Scott: I... Can't...

Emma is shocked, at the honesty of Kirsten.

Kirsten Scott: I can't promise you that life is all warm and fuzzy, and things are going to be perfect.  Hell I can't tell you that life is going to be easy.  I can tell you that there will come a point in life, with SOMETHING, and I don't know what, that will test your fight or flight even more than the explosion of some pyrotechnics.  I can promise that because life is hard.  Life is difficult.  Where what you went through was pure evil and trauma, it sheltered you from a lot of the natural difficulties everyone faces.

None of us have it easy...

The truth is, all you can do and all you can prepare for is whatever is around you.  You can't control what others do.  You can't control what life throws at you.  All you can control is how you respond.  And while I can't promise that you won't be challenged, I can promise one thing that, I think I can safely speak for the rest of us, on, when I say you will never fight alone.  I know you may have felt that way when that explosion happened, but look where it led you?  You went running.  You felt like you had to escape.  And instead of escaping you ran back into us, and we helped you through it...

Emma nods slightly.

Kirsten Scott: ... Trust me, kid... Life sucks.  We occasionally remember the good, but we ALWAYS remember the bad.

Emma Taylor: Why?  Why do we have to remember the bad?

Kirsten Scott: How else are we supposed to learn?  That's where what happened to you hurt you.  You're kind of like the real-life Rapunzel, in that regard.  You've seen things from afar, and been told stories about what the things were you questioned, and mostly, those were probably lies.  So we have to trudge through those lies, and face them as they come to the surface.

But what YOU have to always remember is that there are three of us here to answer any questions you have.  If you see things that make you question what you've been told, ask us.  If you think something is bad, and we don't seem to show the same fear, ask us why.  You're smart.  You question everything.  Now you have to question everything you may have thought you knew.  And that will be hard.  That will be scary.  But we can help you, and we can make your life as enjoyable as possible...

Emma Taylor: I gotcha...

Kirsten Scott: I'll never prommise perfection.  None of us are perfect.  None of us will ever claim we are perfect.  But all we can do is be the best we can be and do whatever we can to make it more enjoyable for one another.

From behind Emma, a voice chimes in.

Ethan Taylor: We've been taught a lot we don't know, sis... She's right... We all have to be willing to ask questions... It's the only way we make it through this world, and do it with as much strength as we can...

Emma nods, then stands up and hugs Kirsten and then walks over to her brother and hugs him.  She verbally apologizes again, for running away and is once again reassured that she has nothing to apologize for, and it is simply reiterated that she be wise enough to ask questions and do her best not to run away from her fears, but face them head on.